A restaurant fundraiser (also known as a dine-to-donate fundraiser) is a win-win opportunity: your organization brings in customers to a local restaurant, and in return, they'll help you raise funds for your cause.
In this helpful guide, learn how to make the most of restaurant night or dine-and-donate fundraisers. Plus, learn how to incorporate gift card fundraising into your next restaurant fundraiser to earn even more.
What is restaurant fundraising and how does it work?
Rstaurant fundraisers and dine-to-donate fundraisers help organizations make money with minimal effort. Here's how it works:
Pick a restaurant
Contact local or chain restaurants where you’d like to have your restaurant fundraiser. Many places already have fundraising models available on their website, so you can find out exactly how they do it.
Choose a date
Pick a night that works best for both the restaurant and your community members. Restaurants will typically only allow you to host your fundraiser on weekdays (when they’re generally less busy).
Promote the event
Advertise your dine-to-donate fundraiser to your community members. Most restaurants will need guests to show a flyer to count their purchase toward your fundraiser, so remind everyone to bring one or have them available at the restaurant.
Restaurant night fundraising is mutually beneficial to you and the business. The restaurant gets more customers to come (and, hopefully, return) to its establishment while you collect some of the profits for your cause.
How much can you earn with restaurant fundraising?
Your group can earn anywhere from 5% to 35% of sales for your cause, depending on the restaurant's fundraising guidelines; this may include food sales only or the total amount of sales.
Fortunately, there aren’t many costs associated with dine-to-donate fundraisers besides the optional marketing or flyer printing expenses. The biggest factor to consider is the profit margin you’ll collect from the restaurant.
You may decide to host your restaurant fundraiser as a single event, but some restaurants allow your fundraiser to run regularly, like quarterly or monthly. If you choose this route, you can earn money for your cause continuously.
In our 2024 survey of experienced fundraising managers, 15% identified restaurant nights as a highly effective fundraising strategy. They all rated these events as 'very successful' and 'very easy' to run, earning anywhere from $250 to $1,000 in one night with minimal upfront expenses.
Example of Chipotle restaurant fundraising flyer
Pros and cons of restaurant fundraisers
If it’s your first time putting together a dine-to-donate fundraiser, you'll want to weigh the pros and cons of this strategy.
Pros:
- Low effort
- Inexpensive
- Enjoyable
Diversifying your restaurant fundraising program is easy, as you don’t necessarily have to fundraise at the same restaurant twice. Offering your community members different cuisines could keep their engagement up.
However, there are some cons, such as:
- Varying profit margins—Depending on their restaurant fundraiser policies, you may not end the night with as much money as you'd expect.
- Scheduling conflicts—Since dine-to-donate fundraisers usually occur on weeknights, you may be limiting participation from community members with work or other commitments.
- Personal taste differences—Simply put, you can’t please everyone. Some people may choose not to come to your fundraiser because they dislike the food or that particular restaurant.
Overall, our verdict is yes, a restaurant fundraiser is worth it. They require minimal effort and can still yield a solid return for your organization.
To minimize the disadvantages of restaurant fundraising, combine it with something even more effective: RaiseRight.
Boost your restaurant fundraiser earnings with RaiseRight
RaiseRight works seamlessly with restaurant and dine-to-donate fundraisers. Just purchase gift cards at face value, and a percentage of every purchase goes back to your organization, without costing you extra. Restaurant gift card earnings average 10%—among the highest on RaiseRight—so you can boost your fundraising impact even more.
Choose from 200+ restaurants on the RaiseRight platform (and 70+ fast food brands), many of which already have fundraising programs. You can host a dine-to-donate fundraiser, have participants pay using gift cards from RaiseRight, and combine your earnings for even greater results.
If you're looking for the best restaurant fundraisers but don't know where to start, here are some popular choices that offer both dine-to-donate events and gift card earnings through RaiseRight:
- Applebee's
- BJ's Restaurant & Brewhouse
- Buffalo Wild Wings
- California Pizza Kitchen
- Cheesecake Factory
- Chili's
- Chipotle Mexican Grill
- Chuck E. Cheese
- Islands
- Panera Bread
- Panda Express
- Pizza Ranch
- Qdoba
- Red Robin
- Rubio's Coastal Grill
- Shake Shack
- Texas Roadhouse
"We love doing fundraisers with Texas Roadhouse because of their high earnings on RaiseRight," says Katy L., who uses RaiseRight to fundraise for Pride Kids Sports Booster Club in Illinois. "We earn 20% from the restaurant fundraiser, and by paying with RaiseRight eGift cards, we earn up to 13% more!"
If your preferred restaurant isn't available on RaiseRight, no worries—you can still earn by using a universal prepaid card from RaiseRight to pay for your meal.
You can also plan your fundraiser with a restaurant that offers 5% back through RaiseRight's local dining program. You and your supporters will earn 5% on all transactions—tax and tip included!
Even better, RaiseRight offers more than just restaurants. There are hundreds more brands across all categories, from gas to groceries, clothing, entertainment, travel, and more!
Start earning with RaiseRight
Ready to enhance your next dine-to-donate fundraiser with RaiseRight? Here are some next steps to get the ball rolling:
- See why RaiseRight is ideal for your school, sports team, band, or other nonprofit organization.
- Learn more about how RaiseRight works.
- Download The RaiseRight Fundraising Playbook and share it with others in your organization.
- Start a free program by completing a short, online enrollment form.
